dana bash is joining us now. dana, are the republicans in the house of representatives blinking a little here? what's going on? >> a little, wolt if. they say they are going to have a vote that will delay the debt ceiling for three months. so what they are doing, if you really look at house republicans who took the majority two years ago, they did it standing on principle for pretty much every squirmish. it seems that they are becoming a bit more sophisticated, rather, but their understanding, it seems, is that you have to pick your battles. losing credit ratings and so forth, that's not a smart battle to wage. look at some of the most conservative members of the house talking to deirdre walsh at the end of their retreat for three days about picking their battles in a better way. >> deal with the smaller ones first, maybe build up a little momentum, credibility, not only with the credit markets but with the folks back home, that we can actually deal with these things, take the small one first, debt ceiling last,